Patrick totally let loose. He delivered a blistering bombardment upon Speaker Joe Straus and the Texas House of Representatives. This is the most vitriolic expression Patrick has made before the media.

Flanked by most of the GOP senators, Patrick pulled the curtains full open to the war between the Senate and the House, in full.

“If we are going ensure that Texas remains the model for governance in the United States of America we must always be passing laws that constrain spending, that reduce regulation. It’s those two pieces, along with cutting taxes, that attract and expand the Texas economic environment,” Abbott said Wednesday on KYFO-AM in Lubbock. “We’ve got to make sure we have the current speaker support those principles or we’ve got to get the votes in the House to make sure we get those principles passed.”

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It’s relatively easy to spot bones in the desert. Bleached by the sun and set against the brown, sandy soil that’s peppered with sagebrush and mesquite, they almost glow white. Once you start looking it seems they’re everywhere. Mostly it’ll be a rabbit’s skull or the hip bone of a small mammal. Sometimes, though, they’ll belong to a human.

On 22 April, there were ribs, a shoulder blade, a clavicle, a piece of vertebrae and a jawbone. There was also a pair of dark-coloured trousers, size 9 Adidas trainers and a yellow wallet with a Tasmanian Devil cartoon on the flap. Inside was a photocopy of an ID card which read: Republica De Honduras. Filadelfo Martinez Gomez. Date of birth: 8 August, 1992.

He died under a tree, most likely of dehydration, on the edge of a dried-out rainwater wash – one of many indents in the sand that snake down from the Growler Mountains here in southern Arizona. He was found 37 miles north east of the Mexican border town of Sonoyta, from where he’d come. There were some other bones scattered 600m to the east – and a skull, two miles west.

This is America’s secret graveyard, where families are forbidden from visiting the final resting place of their loved ones, and often don’t know they are there at all.

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The Salvadoran woman crossed the U.S. border and sought refuge in Texas a year ago, fleeing from her father’s murderers back home.

She has spent the months since then locked inside a 1,500-bed federal detention center wreathed in razor wire on a dead-end road in Conroe, north of Houston.

Her confinement in the Joe Corley Detention Facility, awaiting a decision on her request for asylum, has cost taxpayers nearly $25,000, paid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to GEO Group, a leading national for-profit prison company, and its business partner, Montgomery County.

Without windows and confined indoors, it’s unlikely that Yesica, 22 – her family asked that her full name be withheld for her safety – has heard the sounds of construction as GEO hurriedly erects a second, $110 million, 1,100-bed facility nearby to house a surge in the number of immigrants being rounded up by immigration agencies. When completed, Conroe will host the nation’s largest immigrant detention complex.

The private prison business is booming as President Donald Trump delivers on his campaign promise to crack down on immigrants here illegally. In the first three months of his presidency, at least 113,828 immigrants were locked up in 180 different facilities nationwide – a 10 percent increase over that period in 2016, data obtained by the Houston Chronicle shows.

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Law enforcement groups and civil liberty groups agree on this much: Police video is generally a force for good, helping settle disputes over use of force, providing training resources and putting everyone on their best behavior.

Those are among the reasons Waco police have used in-car cameras for some 15 years and are about to buy body-worn cameras for all officers at a technology and staff cost of about $750,000 a year.

But it appears that no one captured official police footage on Aug. 1, when Kerry Demars Bradley died at the hands of officers who had pulled him over to execute a drug search warrant.

Waco Police Department officials said policeopened fire on Bradley, 37, after he struck and injured SWAT officerWilliam Graeber with his GMC Yukon.

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AUSTIN – Democrats can claim some credit for killing the bathroom bill. Not so much with their legislative muscle, but because their progressive allies came to the Capitol in droves to keep the issue in the headlines while the business community did the nitty-gritty political work of lobbying lawmakers.

But take away that victory and there’s not a lot for the long-out-of-power party to crow about now that the dust has settled on the 20-week regular legislative session and the 29-day special session that ended last week.

That’s why several left-leaning organizations and operatives made a bit of show at a Capitol rally one day after lawmakers left Austin and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott decided to poke House Speaker (and fellow Republican) Joe Straus in the eye for blocking the bathroom bill and a few other issues important to the GOP base.

The star attraction at the rally was U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, the twin brother of Julian Castro, the ex-San Antonio mayor who was later part of President Obama’s cabinet.

Congressman Castro gave the sign-holding progressives what they wanted – to a point.

He called Abbott a “bully” for pushing an agenda to further restrict abortion rights, punish cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities and tie the hands of local elected leaders on issues like property development and cell phone use.

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If you’re heading out to dinner any time before Sept. 15, you might want to check a listing of events hosted by the National Network of Abortion Funds, which is sponsoring the fourth annual “Tacos or Beer Challenge” over the next month.

Failure to make sure the restaurant you’re headed to is not part of the challenge could swiftly torpedo date night, either by finding yourself in the middle of an “abortion party,” or worse—seeing a portion of your bill paying for someone else’s abortion.

In its fourth year, the “Tacos or Beer Challenge” aims to “give abortion stigma a big taco-covered middle finger,” according to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which represents 70 abortion benefactor foundations.

The challenge partners with local restaurants and breweries while leveraging social media, and raised close to $30,000 in its first year, according to pro-abortion website Rewire.com.

“It’s an easy introduction to abortion funds,” Aimee Arrambide, a board member with Fund Texas Choice told Rewire.com. “People love to eat tacos and drink beer. This way you can do it, and support a cause, and teach people why abortion funds are necessary.”

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SAN ANGELO, TX — State Representative Drew Darby (R – San Angelo) will seek re-election to represent House District 72 in the Texas House of Representatives.

Darby chairs the House Energy Resources Committee and the State & Federal Power & Responsibility Select-Committee.

“It is an honor to serve West Texas families and businesses that provide the fuel, food, and fiber to Texas and the nation,” Darby said via a press release. “I’m proud of the groundwork we laid this session to advance significant school finance reform to reduce Robin Hood and ensure local property taxes are not diverted to other areas of the state budget.”

In the regular and special sessions, Representative Darby lists his accomplishments for his constituents:

Keeping State taxes low and strengthening the State’s rainy-day fund.

Banning sanctuary cities and prohibiting any official from ignoring a lawful detainer order of an illegal alien.

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AUSTIN, Texas, August 18, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas legislature took state taxpayers out of the abortion business with a new law restricting state funds to only pay for abortions to save the life of the mother.

Here are 12 facts to know about the new Texas law:

1. The law does not restrict anyone from getting their own abortion insurance.

Any woman may purchase insurance. The only restriction is regarding taxpayers funding abortion.

“What we’re saying here is: If you want to buy this coverage, you can buy it,” Republican Rep. John Smithee said during the House debate. “This isn’t about who can get an abortion. It is about who is forced to pay for an abortion.”

2. The Texas law does not put the life of any mother in jeopardy.

The law applies to “elective” abortions and specifically includes an exemption for any abortion necessary to save the mother’s life.

No emergency procedure is prohibited under the new law. Any woman whose life may be threatened by carrying to term may abort.

“Texas must take steps to prohibit taxpayer and premium dollars from subsidizing abortions that are not medically necessary,” Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton said.